On April 7, 1947, Henry Ford passed away at his home in Dearborn, Michigan. Founder of the Ford Motor Company and pioneer of modern assembly line techniques, Ford died due to a cerebral hemorrhage at age 83.

3 Responses to “This Day in History: Henry Ford dies”

I’ve got to hand it to Ford for knowing where the bulk of the money was. He tried to convince his former business partners that there was more money to be made from the poorer majority than the rich minority. Those wealthy types sure got their backsides handed to them.

Despite Ford’s contribution to the automotive industry, I still hate the way he treated Edsel. I am sure that he contributed to Edsel’s (too) early demise.

I read an article from 1947 that announced the death of Henry Ford. It stated his Fairlane estate where he lived did not have electricity, but gas lamps and no central heat. I found that unusual, given the era he died. It’s been written before about his frugality, and refusal to give in to 20th century’s conventions.

I heard something about that too. But from what I’ve heard (and read) he had electricity; he just didn’t like the idea of buying it from someone else (he didn’t like paying anyone for licenses and royalties either, thus the lack of hydraulic brakes until ’39) so he built an elaborate generating plant at his house. He used to enjoy taking guests on a tour of Fairlane and especially enjoyed showing off his power plant. Henry was a friend of Thomas Edison so I’m sure that he embraced electricity.